Deficiency of Vitamin D increases severity of COVID-19 infection
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t seem to subside, bringing the death toll to people with comorbidities. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director has recently added that over 75% of people who died due to COVID-19 had comorbidities like uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes, renal diseases and obesity.
Speaking on the importance of lifestyle in the prevention of diseases during Health4All Episode-17, Dr Amitav Banerjee, Prof & Head of Community Medicines, D Y Patil Medical College, Pune said, “Lifestyle changes do not only consist of diet and exercise but stepping outdoors for getting your mandatory dose of Vitamin D is also an important component of a healthy lifestyle. Your body needs adequate amounts of Vitamin D to maintain and support the immune system. Studies have shown how Vitamin D deficiencies can reduce vaccine efficacy and also increase the severity of COVID-19 infection in individuals.”
“We have found that young adults are about 4 times more likely to have Vitamin D deficiencies as compared to older adults due to the cultural and social changes that have taken over in the past few decades. Vitamin D deficiency is directly associated with the exposure of skin to the sun. We see even the traffic police are found Vitamin D deficient despite having good exposure to sunlight. They spend reasonably good time in the sunlight but their skin and face are covered and not exposed to the sunlight,” added Dr Banerjee.
While conducting Health Counter during Health4All Online Episode-17, Dr Swadeep Srivastava, Founder HEAL Health & HEAL Foundation said, “We have reached over 1 million people through the informative videos of 17 episodes of Health4All where over 80 public health topics have been covered. The eminent panel of experts participating in Health4All Online show for over three months, and their research-oriented health information has brought ripple effects in the lives of the people in terms of behavioural change, in choosing the right kind of treatment, and in adopting the right preventive measures, ensuring healthy living.”